Chinnappa, Sudhir, Kapil in three-way tie for lead at KGA

By Rahul Banerji

Trishul Chinnappa, Sudhir Sharma and Kapil Kumar set up a three-way tie for the halfway lead of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association course on Wednesday.

Bangalore lad Chinnappa and Sharma of Greater Noida, both fighting to save their PGTI cards, hit day’s best 7-under par 65s to aggregate 9-under-135 alongside Delhi’s Kapil Kumar, who carded a 5-under-67 on the day.

In an interesting twist, day one leader Arun Kumar of Delhi missed the cut that fell at 2-over 146. Arun followed up a first round of 67 with an 82 in round two to total 5-over-149.

In all, 53 professionals and two amateurs, including Mysore’s All India Amateur champion Aryan Roopa Anand, made the weekend rounds.

Japan Tour regular Rahil Gangjee (68) who has made Bangalore home, and Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar (69) were tied fourth, a shot off the pace at the Rs. 40 lakh event which is also the penultimate leg of the 2019 Tata Steel PGTI season.

Solid round

Chinnappa (70-65), currently 60^th on the PGTI Order of Merit, produced a solid 65 that had nine birdies and two bogeys at his home course to improve his chances of securing his PGTI card at the last full-field event of the season.

The 26-year-old made a slow start with two bogeys and a birdie in his first five holes but scrambled well for the rest of his round as he got himself out of tough spots to salvage birdies on quite a few occasions.

Chinnappa made consecutive birdies from the 15^th through to the 18^th holes to come back strongly. He produced his shot of the day on the 16^th when he curved his approach from the trees over the water and landed it within five feet of the pin.

Chinnappa, who has five top-20s on the PGTI this season, put together four more birdies on the front nine including three on the trot from the third through the fifth that included a great recovery from the bunker on the fifth.

Chinnappa said later, “I managed to get out of trouble on quite a few occasions today. I can improve on the places that I’m putting myself in so that I don’t need to come up with heroic shots such as the approach over the water on the 16^th.

“Playing in home conditions always helps as there are a lot of areas on this course where I’ve been before and where I’ve played from before.

“Importantly, I followed up both my bogeys with birdies today. It shows I have the confidence to come back hard with some good shots immediately after dropping a stroke,” added Trishul, who climbed 14 places on Wednesday.

Bogey free

Sudhir Sharma (70-65), also struggling this season and currently 54^th in the rankings, made good progress towards retaining his PGTI card with a bogey-free 65. The 32-year-old, who set a course record in Chandigarh this year, has had a patchy season with a top-10 and three other top-20s.

Sharma was not in the best form in round two but putted extremely well as four of his seven birdies came as a result of conversions from 10 to 12 feet. He had a lucky break on the 13^th where his erratic tee shot bounced on the edge of the bunker and rolled towards the hole.

Sudhir, a joint runner-up at the Asian Tour’s 2017 Panasonic Open India, said, “My inconsistent putting has affected my results this year. I’ve played well whenever the putter has been hot for me.

“When the putting hasn’t clicked there has been too much pressure on my hitting and I’ve not done well. Today, I found only eight fairways out of 14 and still shot a 65 that just proves how good my putting was.”

Precise play

Kapil (68-67), tied fourth overnight and one off the lead, jumped three places with a round that had six birdies and a bogey. Kapil, fresh from a top-5 finish last week in Kolkata, hit it close all day as his approach and wedge shots were precise. He also converted most of his chances on the greens.

Kapil said, “I did well in all departments of my game today but my chipping troubles continued just like last week. My putting was particularly good. The switch from a thin grip to a thicker grip on my putter seems to be paying dividends.”

Round one joint leader Karandeep Kochhar dropped three places to tied fourth at 8-under-136 thanks to a round that featured seven birdies, two bogeys and a double.

Good fightback

Gangjee was also in joint fourth after an eventful day that saw him make six birdies and a double bogey. He fought back well with four birdies on the back-nine.

M. Dharma was seventh on 6-under-138 and 18-year-old amateur Akshay Neranjan, playing only his second professional event, tied eighth on 4-under-140, making it four Bangalore golfers in the top-10.

Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, one of the three first round joint leaders, slipped to tied eighth after a 73 on Wednesday.

Defending champion Anura Rohana of Sri Lanka was tied 11^th along with Pune-based Udayan Mane, the 2017 champion, on 3-under-141.

Bangalore-based Aryan Roopa Anand was the second amateur to make the cut, sitting tied 24^th on 1-under-143.

Gurgaon-based Veer Ahlawat, the highest-ranked player in the field at third in the PGTI Order of Merit, was tied 47^th on 2-over-146.

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